Why Video?

Every media class goes over the importance of the printing press, and for good reason: it can be credited as the catalyst for profound societal and cultural movements around the world, as well as the first “mass media” tool. Not only did it increase literacy around the globe, it allowed anyone to convey their ideas, motives, and feelings with a wide audience at cost never before possible.

Fast forward to today, our media landscape is a bit different than it was in 1440. The internet has vastly accelerated the production and virality of ideas, and in turn has sparked creation of all kinds of media. Text, photos, and yes, GIFs, have their own respective place on today’s internet landscape, but none has been more affected by the power of digital dissemination than video.

Today, 91% of 18-24 year olds watch online video. You can’t go on Facebook, Twitter, or pretty much any news site without being presented with a video of some kind. Seriously – it’s everywhere, and the trend only looks to continue. By 2020, it’s predicted that video’s share of global internet bandwidth will be nearly 80%.

Why shouldn’t it be? People who watch video are 85% more likely to purchase something than those who don’t. Videos capture people’s attention, and when displayed near a point-of-purchase in a donation campaign or point of sale, it can be a powerful motivator for a consumer to divulge their payment information and up your conversion rate. In fact, landing pages that leveraged videos saw an 80% increase in conversions.

Video is way more shareable – audiences are 10 times more likely to share, embed, and comment on video as opposed to other media types.

Video evokes stronger emotions – It’s hard to convey tone, volume, and emotion with text, and that makes videos more engaging. The less thinking your audience has to do to understand something, the better!

At Countable, we hear from clients every day about the successes they’re having with gathering user-generated videos. Not only are they seeing higher engagement on their campaigns, they’re collecting reusable marketing materials to post to social media, include in an email, and leverage for advertisements.

How are you planning on incorporating videos to your digital strategy?